I'm not a huge fan of this film, and I'll try and be as objective as possible here. I think it's an okay sort of run-in-the-mill movie that was striving for more, and probably hit a few chords with die-hard "watch anything" science fiction fanatics.
It's reasonably shot, but has that 1980's Hollywood gloss to it that's somewhat reminiscent of the look for Spielberg's films; lots of light and colors. Which I think is okay, but for some reason the film doesn't hit me as being too interesting. It's interesting enough for what it is, but it's not a film I have in my collection.
Quaid and Gosset make for an interesting duo, but Star Wars this movie isn't. The thing that strikes me about this movies is that Gosset isn't alien enough, and how the two characters develop strikes me as being Hollywood being Hollywood. Two different species probably wouldn't get along so well, much less be able to communicate so easily.
The other thing is that the film has a very studio look to it. A few location shots out in the desert someplace would have helped this film a great deal, as well as perhaps tweaking the script some. That is to say the premise is interesting enough, but I don't think the film went far enough to make the social rift between two species alien to one another more apparent. I could geek out on it, but I'll refrain.
All in all it's okay for what it is, but I think there's a better scifi film to be made.
Take that for what it's worth.
